Black Bears in Connecticut

Lectures on the Lawn

In 2019 Litchfield had the third most bear sightings of all Connecticut towns. Two-hundred-and-thirty-four of the bruins were seen in the town’s environs last year.

Wildlife experts put Connecticut’s total bear population at about 800, growing by as much as 10 percent a year. Though native to Connecticut, black bears were extirpated by the mid-1800s through hunting and loss of habitat. With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, however, as people moved to the cities for work, the land they left behind eventually reforested.

It is believed that black bears from Western Massachusetts eventually made their way back into Northwest Connecticut and, by the 1990s, wildlife biologists concluded bears had returned.

Bears have been spotted in 140 of the state’s 169 towns and cities. As the population increases bear-human contact has also increased, including bears entering homes.

Now the Friends of Topsmead State Forest are planning a lecture on black bears for March 14 at 1:30PM in the Topsmead carriage house.

The program is to be presented by Ginny Apple, a wildlife rehabilitator and Master Wildlife Conservationist with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, as part of the Lectures on the Lawn series. Apple, who previously presented a program on eagles for the series, will show slides about black bears in Connecticut and share her personal bear experiences.

A native of Texas and now a resident of Barkhamsted, Apple was one of the first full-time women sportswriters in the country. Through the years she has hiked, climbed, kayaked, skied and developed a passion for all things natural.